Consistent efforts on part of the parents of students of Arya Gurukul have finally paid off. The Kalyan school on Friday agreed to reduce its annual fees by 25% for this academic year.

Consistent efforts on part of the parents of students of Arya Gurukul have finally paid off. The Kalyan school on Friday agreed to reduce its annual fees by 25% for this academic year.

MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, who intervened in the matter, said: “The parents could not afford to pay the fees, so I spoke with the management and they agreed to reduce it by 25%. They also agreed to take the parents into confidence before hiking the fees next time.”

The parents had alleged that the school had increased its annual fees from Rs 11,400 to Rs 17,100 in September —halfway through the year. They had also threatened to go on a hunger strike from Friday.

“The school had hiked the annual fee by Rs 7,000. A fee hike of Rs 1,800 was acceptable to the parents but we agreed to an increase of Rs 4,000 to settle the matter,” said Arvind Prasad, whose child studies in Class 2 at the school. “We have been fighting for eight months and had no energy to go on. We had decided that we would resolve the matter today.”

Raju Ninave, another parents said: “Most children come from middle-class families, who can’t afford to pay the increased fee.”

Bharat Malik, trustee of Arya Gurukul, said: “The management has respected Gaikwad’s request and decreased the fees by 25% for this year. But the next academic year, we will have to increase the fees, or we will not be able to provide quality education.”